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| Reviews Summary for Redsun RP2100 |
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You can
write your own review of the Redsun RP2100.
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NWLORAX
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 20, 2008 19:22
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Amazing for the Price
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I took the plunge this month and bought one via eBay. The receiver has very low noise, at least on battery power. The FM has a bit of noise, but that is likely because Bremerton (QTH) doesn't have many Seattle broadcasting towers pointed in this direction. I dx on the bcb with a passive external tuned antenna (DE-200, I think). The number of stations I can pull in is extensive-Colorado, Utah, California, Manitoba, Oregon, Idaho and hopefully one day, some Japanese or Korean dx. Short wave is very good, slightly more sensitive than my DE1103, I think, and the external BFO (also by Tecsun/Redsun) has finer tuning than the 1103. The RP2100 is a table top sort of radio, and can't directly compare with the 1103, which fits into a pocket. The only things that could make this any better would be a 2.4 KHz and a 500 Hz filter for ssb and digital mode reception.
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N3OJD
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 22, 2008 20:08
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RP2100 vs. ICF-SW7600GR
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Here's a P.S. to the review below. I tried comparing my old tried-and-true portable Sony ICF-SW7600GR to the RP2100 in combination with the Tquchina SSB Adapter. An hour listening to 80M sideband led me to the conclusion that the RP2100+SSB Adapter blows the Sony out of the water.
The '2100+SSB was consistently stable on frequency with less background hiss and more listenable signal. That's not to say that one radio might miss a signal that the other would hear. It's just that the Redsun was easier listening all around for any length of time.
You may want to ride the RF gain on the Redsun for the least distorted SSB audio so if you don't like to fiddle, this set-up may not be for you.
Also keep in mind that the '2100 + outboard SSB adapter is NOT a portable by any means. The combination takes a fair amount of desktop real estate whereas the '7600 will fit in just about any suitcase. But none the less the '2100 is an interesting discovery and as I say below, a heck of a lot of fun.
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N3OJD
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 17, 2008 21:03
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This Radio is $100 WORTH OF FUN!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have to concur with what's been said and add a review of the SSB adapter from tquchina on eBay.
This radio is just plain fun. On strong SW signals the broad IF makes for very listenable audio. And the narrow IF is very effective at blocking adjacent noise. I can comfortably listen to RCI in the middle of the day just like it was a local MW station. Sensitivity is nearly equal to my Icom IC-746pro, but on the weak signals there's no question which receiver you want to go with. The RP2100 audio tends to get a bit muddy on the weaker stuff.
I included the SSB adapter when I purchased my radio from tquchina on eBay (BTW allow 2 weeks for delivery of the radio from them) and it's a gem. The adapter is an outboard unit that's a small PC board with a battery holder built onto it that holds 4 AA's. The stability and tuneability of this adapter is surprising. All you have to do is plug it into the IF out on the back of the RP2100 and you're good to go. I can nearly do ECSS tuning with it and it's certainly stable enough for extended SSB listening. Great fun!
While the RP2100 will never replace an IC-75, it sure is a lot of fun for $100. As a matter of fact when it comes to sw radio I don't think you can beat the value.
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KG6TAG
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 25, 2008 00:33
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Great value
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I just purchased this radio for $60 and had a friend carry it back from China after a business trip.
Pros:
Very good sensitivity on shortwave and Medium Wave (AM). This radio is far superior comparing whip to whip with my Sony 7600G, and Grundig YB 300PE. I have yet to try it on a long wire.
No muting when tuning
Nice filter bandwidths (someone else said they were 10 KHz and 5 KHz which seems reasonable)
Very responsive Bass and Treble controls
RF Gain control
Very good AGC
Very good audio quality
Local/DX (attenuator presumably)
External antenna connectors
Slow and Fast tuning speeds with "Qtune" which allows push-button jumps to the beginning of the next short wave band segment
Cons:
No SSB - Easily resolved for about $12 and a little soldering fun from TenTec: http://radio.tentec.com/kits/fun/1050
Very annoying tuning bleeps/pops across about 1/2 of the total bandwidth of the radio, and occurring on every tuning increment.
Rather odd memories
Summary -
As much as I hate the tuning bleeps, the sensitivity, selectivity, audio quality, and cost of this radio make it a winner in my book. It is far more enjoyable than my Sony 7600G which has just never really impressed me a lot, even with the synch detector. If you purchase this radio, be sure to join the Yahoo group to find out how to turn off annoying key and end-of-band beeps among other things.
Note this radio is the same as:
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/6603
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/6603
73,
Dave
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KD7RDZI2
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 29, 2007 12:42
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STEAL THIS RADIO!!!!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This is a very different receiver from others. It covers continuously the spectrum from 520 Khz to 30Mhz and FM broadcasting.
It has two connectors clearly stated to be a 50 ohm (for dipoles, verticals, active antennas etc) and 500 ohm terminals (for antennas such as longwires, semirhombic antennas, folded dipoles without impedance transformers etc). No portable I have, such as degen de1103 and Sangean 909 have it. In this respect is similar to the Drake R8 and other tabletop.
It is a dual coversion receiver with the first IF very high in frequency and the second mixer at 455 Khz. In this respect is similar to good portables such as the Degen de 1103 and the Sangean 909.
IF filters are 10 Khz and 5 Khz. They seem to have a good shape. You might think that they are too wide. However they are perfect for AM shortwave, AM mediumwave. AM demodulation is far better than any other receiver I ever heard, included the Drake R8 and the Drake 2C.
Amazingly it has a IF output at 455 Khz. No need to make any modication. Just connect this radio to your PC through a 455 Khz or 450 IF mixer from the IF output (I use a SAT-Schneider mixer based on a cheap NE602), run a software for DRM such as DREAM and you have DRM, LSB, USB, CW and FM with digital filters wide as much as you like from few hertz to 10 Khz. This radio becomes a truly SDR!!!
Audio for AM from the speaker is superb. FM is great.
The radio seems to be very sensitive as the others, yet it seems to be a quiet receiver such as the Degen and the Sangean.
Still it overloads with big external antennas. Similar problem of the Degen and the Sangean. Drake receivers and tabletop in general are better in this. There are two options: use the attenuators in the radio (it has a 20db attenuator and RF Gain of about further 30db). Otherwise, try buying or making passband filters or preselector. A preselector is the best long term investment you can probably do when you use large nonresonant antennas.
Battery: you can use AA and/or D rechargeble batteries. They are expensive but you can have up to 10 Ampere in your radio and bring it with you for a long listening.
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KC5IIE
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Rating: 5/5
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May 26, 2007 06:15
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fantastic!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I purchased the Kaito KA-2100 incarnation of the Redsun about a month ago and I've been amazed at its performance since I've aquired it. I can echo John Plimmer's comments about it, I've compared it along side of more elaborate receivers I own and it holds its own when connected to an external antenna, an inverted - L here. It handles strong signals without overloading, and copies weak signals great, namely this morning I copied signals in the tropical bands just as well as my Satellit 800. Here in the American Midwest we need all the sensitivity we can muster and the KA-2100 really delivers. I cant wait for the more advanced version of this radio to be introduced, selectable sync detection and a keypad would make this radio a real winner. Best receiver value under $400no doubt!
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ALANWONG1
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 12, 2007 23:11
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Best Bang for the Bucks!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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As my personal budget is not great, i currently only own a Degen DE103, Icom IC-R75 and the Redsun RP2100...
Upon comparing a pocket size radio, portable and a tabletop, i would say the RP2100 performs just as well as the R75 even though it lacks of a Sync Detection feature which would not be missed if you used the RP2100 for tuning in to fairly strong AM Stations...
The only thing to remember is that if one has a budget for an antenna tuner + balun (ie. impedence transformer), the RP2100 would perform much much better when attached to a long wire antenna where fairly weak stations will come alive!!!..
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ZS00011
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 30, 2006 12:05
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more on the RP2100
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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More on the Redsun RP2100 after further use.
MW mediumwave reception on the BCB band still amazes me with it's clarity
and sensitivity. Regular reception of stations that are 5,000 miles/8,000
kilometers away with good readability is possible on a regular basis. The
local
stations that are 700 miles/1,200 kilometers away simply boom in with great
sound and clarity. Very impressive on a portable with only a ferrite
internal rod. Provision is made on the back for the connection of a longwire
antenna to a 500 Ohm post, also a ground/earth connector, but I have not
tried this as reception on the internal ferrite rod is so good.
FM band. The most powerful FM receiver I have owned is my Drake SW8, but the
RP2100 is quite a bit more sensitive on the internal whip, and the marginal
long distance signals are a lot clearer. It leaves my GE SRIII and Sangean
818 in the shade.
Connecting to AC mains. This works seamlessly and cuts off the battery and a
mains indicator appears on the LCD display. Only snag is that this
introduces a lot of RFI hash onto the MW band and makes the more distant
stations unpleasant to listen to. It doesn't seem to affect the FM or SW
bands at all though.
Connecting a powerful 50 Ohm antenna for shortwave. I have a RF Systems DX-1
Pro active antenna which produces a very strong signal to the receiver. If I
connect this to a portable it overloads it badly and even risks blowing the
front end FET's. I connected this to the 50 Ohm input of the RP2100 and
enjoyed
amazing SW reception with NO signs of overload at all. Compared with my much
more expensive tabletop receiver the RP2100's performance was impressive and
on many stations the RP2100 was preferable to listen to because of its warm
wide spectrum sound compared to the rather tinny and shallow sound of the
tabletop.
The RP2100 is no tabletop though as it does not have the extensive
facilities of my big Icom to clear up various forms of interference. All you
can do is narrow the bandwidth and offset the frequency slightly either side
to rid yourself of the interference, but often this is not sufficient.
Actually, having owned a Kenwood R1000 for awhile, I think the RP2100 would
substantially outclass it!
The 50 presets/memories have driven me Harpic, that is clean round the bend,
so I no longer use this function. You see, if your favourite station is on
preset 1 and you have been tuning around, when you want to go back to your
favourite station and press the preset button, it will go up one, so you end
up on preset 2. You then have to press the preset button another nine times
to get back to preset one. That's annoying and time consuming, so it is
faster to use the excellent "Q tune" function button to get quickly around
the dial to where you want to be. Q tune jumps one segment up the shortwave
band at each press, and the fast tuning knob will take you quickly to where
you want to be.
Altogether by far the best portable I have ever owned, including my Sony
2010. Very satisfying performance and excellent value for money at just over
$100.
Just when I thought I had bought the ultimate, on the way is a mouthwatering
Redsun RP3000. This upcoming receiver looks the same as the RP2100 but with
a few button changes on the face, but is said to offer:
# Air band for aircraft
# numeric keypad
# 1000 presets
# sideband selectable synchronous detection
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
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